CITROËN HAS A long history of bringing innovative technology to the masses. The century-old French carmaker’s debut car in India, the C5 Aircross, is a demonstration of its capabilities. Launched a week ago, the SUV has been getting rave reviews. And Citroën has big plans for India. In an interaction, Roland Bouchara, senior vice president (sales and marketing), Citroën India, talks about the expectation, the plans and the challenges. Excerpts:
Q/How do you plan to sell in India under the current circumstances? Will it be a mix of offline and online?
A/One of our ‘India-first’ initiatives is our La Maison Citroën phygital dealerships in ten Indian cities—Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Chennai. At these showrooms, customers will get to experience a seamless, omnichannel retail concept through ATAWADAC (AnyTime, AnyWhere, AnyDevice, AnyContent). A complete digital ecosystem will seamlessly link the digital experience of customers.
We have also launched a direct online buying option for the C5 Aircross. Customers in more than 50 cities, outside the 10 dealer network cities, can order their C5 Aircross directly from the factory. We have a dedicated e-commerce-enabled website that has options of selection of finance, insurance, annual maintenance packages and extended warranty. Customers will also be supported by a dedicated test drive fleet, e-sales adviser, virtual product demo and doorstep delivery. We have also created a nomadic phygital showroom, which is a showroom on wheels. It will give a flavour of La Maison Citroën retail concept to customers outside the dealer network cities.
Q/What kind of demand do you anticipate?
A/India is digitising rapidly, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Globally, Citroën has been a popular choice for young people. India will not be very different. Hence, we are optimistic that our unique styling and focus towards a seamless omnichannel digital will surely be a differentiating proposition when compared with our competition. We have more than 1,000 pre-booking orders.
Q/What are the new models in the pipeline?
A/We are aiming at launching one new model every year. For subsequent models, we will further increase localisation with an ultimate goal of localising at more than
90 per cent.
Q/What is the scale of investment in India, and what are your future plans?
A/By the end of 2020, we had made capital investments of over Rs1,000 crore, while the total investment including land, capital expenditure and research and development exceeded Rs2,000 crore. In Chennai, our R&D centre develops vehicles for India and other markets, while our purchasing hub is dedicated to sourcing powertrain and vehicle parts for exports. ‘Make in India’ is at the centre of our strategy. We have an experienced and agile local team in India, which is empowered to make business decisions.
We currently have two plants in India. The vehicle assembly plant at Tiruvallur, near Chennai in Tamil Nadu, has a capacity for one lakh vehicles. The powertrain plant at Hosur, Tamil Nadu, has an annual capacity to produce three lakh gearboxes and two lakh engines. The powertrains are currently being exported to Europe. The 2.0-litre diesel engine for the C5 Aircross is assembled at our Hosur plant.
Q/Any plans to export vehicles from India?
A/Gearboxes are already being exported from India. As we progress in our India journey, we will be exporting the India-developed C-Cubed platform and components to other markets.
Q/What kind of competition are you foreseeing in India?
A/The headroom for the automobile market to grow in India is immense. With the Covid-19 pandemic, there is quite a bit of uncertainty at the moment. There will be ups and downs in the short term, but the long-term potential of the market is clear. If all goes well, India can become the third-largest market globally in the next three to five years, with sales of around five million cars annually.